IEEE Science Kit Grant Success

Hanna Collins, the Youth Services Librarian at Slinger Community Library, shares her success in getting a IEEE STEAM grant.

It has been a goal of our library for some time to build a collection of STEAM kits for our youth. With a tight budget and the cost of some of the items, we had not yet been able to make it a reality. When I heard about a grant opportunity from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) I knew this could be the chance to get it up and running.

The grant application window opens each year on November 1st and ends the third Thursday in January. The grant offers up to $2,000 to purchase STEM kits for public libraries. This is meant to provide funding to begin a collection, not add to an existing one. In Wisconsin, we are part of their Region 4. The application includes about 9 questions along with a proposed budget.

We were awarded the grant in March of this year and made a goal of having the kits ready for October. We already have a collection of Library of Things, so our cataloger had some experience cataloging non-traditional items. My first step was to research possible kits and build up a budget, including storage for the items. My goal was to collect an equal amount of kits for preschool and school age children.

A few things to consider would be whether the kit has consumable parts. I ended up with a couple of these on my list and made sure to leave some wiggle room in the budget for replacement parts. Another is the amount of parts. Each kit needs to be checked over upon return to ensure all parts are returned. If a kit has over 100 parts this becomes a drain on staff. I did end up ordering a couple of large part items but tried to keep it to a minimum. Another consideration is breakability. These kits will get lots of use, so make sure they’re durable. Are parts able to be re-ordered in case they're lost or broken? I settled on a little over 30 kits for our initial STEM collection.

After researching in the spring and summer, I ordered the kits in 3 separate waves in the fall so we didn’t start to drown in items. I laid out several steps. I would need to label all items with our initials, make a list of all parts for cataloging purposes, create a label for the storage tub, and photograph it as part of the label for the tub.

Part of the grant requirements ask you to promote the new kits. We decided to combine this with another initiative of getting all first graders library cards. We planned three literacy nights for each of our elementary schools. The kids could get their library cards, explore our Wonderbooks and Tonieboxes, and also be the first to try out our STEM kits. The nights were huge successes! They were drawn to the STEM kits and tinkered away the whole night. I also collaborated with one of the STEM teachers at Slinger Elementary to bring the kits to the second-grade classes one week. The kids really loved working in small groups to try out six of the kits. We had many visitors come to the library to check out these kits specifically.

If you are hoping to build a STEM collection at your library I would encourage you to apply for this wonderful grant! We hope to continue to grow our STEM collection in the future. Receiving this chunk of $2,000 really got our collection up and running.

Information on IEEE Science Kits for Public Library Grants

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) - Region 4’s Science Kits for Public Libraries (SKPL) Grant program is offering up to $2,000 in funding to public libraries to establish a circulating science kits collection. Libraries must be located within Region 4 which includes all of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and northerly portions of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Nebraska, and South Dakota. More information and application form is available now, on the SKPL website, and library submissions will be accepted until January 16, 2025

All images- Hanna Collins